1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of electrical connectors, and more particularly to a land grid array (LGA) connector having a locking mechanism for securely locking an IC chip in the LGA connector and method for assembling the IC chip into the LGA connector.
2. Background of the Invention
Electrical connectors are widely used in the electronic transmitting field to interconnect two separate electronic, components, i.e. an IC chip and a motherboard, so as to establish electrical connection therebetween. The electrical connector basically comprises an insulative housing and a plurality of electrical terminals received in the housing, where one kind of land grid array (LGA) type terminals are commonly used in recent years to interconnect the electronic components, especially to interconnect a LGA type IC chip with a LGA type connector. Commonly, when the LGA type IC chip is mounted onto an insulative housing of the LGA type connector, electronic pads of the IC chip all resist the LGA type terminals in the housing of the LGA type connector thereby establishing the electrical connection. However, the IC chip is easy to move with respect to the terminals since there is not any extra maintaining force existed between the pads and the terminals. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an extra locking mechanism to firmly locate the IC chip in the connector so as to ensure stably electrical connection.
One conventional locking mechanism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,120. The locking mechanism comprises a cover pivotally connected to one end of a main body and a latch movably attached to a free end of the cover. Rotation of the cover to an open position allows an IC chip to be mounted into the main body, and then the cover rotates to a closed position to sandwich the IC chip between the over and the main body, and finally the latch rotates and engages with the other end of the main body to secure the cover to the main body so as to firmly retain the IC chip in the main body. However, the whole structure of the locking mechanism, especially the structures of the cover and the latch, is so complicated that it costs too much money to manufacture and that it is difficult to assemble. This kind of locking mechanism may be not suitable for popular use.
Another conventional locking mechanism is disclosed in US Patent Publication No. 2004/0095693A1. The locking mechanism disclosed in the patent application comprises a load plate pivotally connected to one end of a reinforcement plate and a lever pivotally connected to the other opposite end of the reinforcement plate. After the IC chip is mounted onto an insulative housing in the reinforcement plate, the load plate and the lever all rotate from their open position to their closed position, and the lever presses onto a free end of the load in the closed position thereby apply a pressing force to the load plate for securing the IC chip between the load plate and the housing. The structure of this kind of locking mechanism is relatively simple and easy to manufacture and assemble. However, when the LGA connector is mounted onto a motherboard, it may need a relatively large room to be reserved on the motherboard in order to ensure full rotation of the load plate and the lever between the open and the closed positions. Especially, the space outside the opposite ends of the reinforcement plate all has to be reserved, which is not desirable during design of the motherboard layout.
Accordingly, what is needed is to provide an land grid array (LGA) connector having an improved locking mechanism, wherein the locking mechanism is easy to make and assemble, and can ensure a stable locating of an IC chip in the connector as well.
Consequently, what is also needed is to provide a new method of assembling an IC chip into a land array grid (LGA) connector and securing the IC chip in the LGA connector by the improved locking mechanism.